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A 1909 photo of Captain Herman Schuenemann, center, Mr. Colberg, right, and W. L. Vanaman, left, standing among Christmas trees on a ship. A century ago, a Christmas tradition in Chicago turned from joy into grief when the Rouse Simmons, the Christmas tree ship, sank in Lake Michigan, taking her beloved captain and his crew with her.
A 1909 photo of Captain Herman Schuenemann, center, Mr. Colberg, right, and W. L. Vanaman, left, standing among Christmas trees on a ship. A century ago, a Christmas tradition in Chicago turned from joy into grief when the Rouse Simmons, the Christmas tree ship, sank in Lake Michigan, taking her beloved captain and his crew with her.
Word would trickle along the docks, its festive message proclaiming to the streets above:
Word would trickle along the docks, its festive message proclaiming to the streets above: “The ‘Christmas Tree Ship’ is here!”
The three-masted fishing schooner
The three-masted fishing schooner “Rouse Simmons.”
Mrs. Barbara Schuenemann, left, widow of Captain Herman Schuenemann, has continued his business of transporting Christmas trees from Michigan to Chicago along with her daughter Elsie, right.
Mrs. Barbara Schuenemann, left, widow of Captain Herman Schuenemann, has continued his business of transporting Christmas trees from Michigan to Chicago along with her daughter Elsie, right.
Snow and ice coat the Rouse Simmons and its cargo of Christmas trees in 1910, two years before it sank off Wisconsin.
Snow and ice coat the Rouse Simmons and its cargo of Christmas trees in 1910, two years before it sank off Wisconsin.
Elsie Schuenemann stands near the wheel of the Christmas Ship, near the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River, on Dec. 6, 1915.
Elsie Schuenemann stands near the wheel of the Christmas Ship, near the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River, on Dec. 6, 1915.
In 1912, a Christmas tradition in Chicago turned from joy to grief when the Rouse Simmons, the Christmas tree ship, sank in Lake Michigan, taking her beloved captain and his crew with her.
In 1912, a Christmas tradition in Chicago turned from joy to grief when the Rouse Simmons, the Christmas tree ship, sank in Lake Michigan, taking her beloved captain and his crew with her.
Elsie Schuenemann, who became known as the Christmas tree lady, in an undated photo. Schuenemann continued the tradition her father, Captain Herman Schuenemann, had started in Chicago.
Elsie Schuenemann, who became known as the Christmas tree lady, in an undated photo. Schuenemann continued the tradition her father, Captain Herman Schuenemann, had started in Chicago.
“The Christmas Tree Schooner,” by local artist Charles Vickery, depicts families at the Chicago dockyards during the late 1800s buying trees shipped from Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Elsie Schuenemann Roberts holds a Christmas tree, standing on a sidewalk in Chicago, in 1928. Her father, Captain Herman Schuenemann, used to bring Christmas trees to Chicago via Lake Michigan, but he died when his ship, the Rouse Simmons, sank in 1912. Afterward, his daughters shipped trees by railroad to Chicago and loaded them onto a ship docked in the river in order to continue their family tradition of selling trees by ship.
Elsie Schuenemann Roberts holds a Christmas tree, standing on a sidewalk in Chicago, in 1928. Her father, Captain Herman Schuenemann, used to bring Christmas trees to Chicago via Lake Michigan, but he died when his ship, the Rouse Simmons, sank in 1912. Afterward, his daughters shipped trees by railroad to Chicago and loaded them onto a ship docked in the river in order to continue their family tradition of selling trees by ship.